Ani DiFranco har for alvor været på banen, siden 1990, hvor hun udsendte sit debutalbum. Og siden er der stort set kommet et album hvert år fra den højproduktive sangskriver, guitarist og sanger. DiFranco er – ud over at være en talentfuld musiker – en kønspolitisk bevidst dame, der er erklæret biseksuel, skriver sange om det (In or Out) og har haft sit eget pladeselskab (Righteous Babe Records) siden 1989.

Hendes tekster er meget personlige, sofistikerede stykker, hvor der leges med sproget. Teksterne, der har både selvbiografisk og politisk karakter, fremføres med en særegen blanding af recitation og sang og akkompagneres af DiFrancos særprægede guitarstil, der er præget af fingerpicking og uortodokse stemninger. Fra starten af har Difranco blandet stilarter og instrumenter efter lyst, og fx bruger hun strygere på Knuckle Down. Men på bunden af det musikalske univers finder man folk og rock.

I det hele taget går DiFranco sine egne veje musikalsk og på anden måde, fx politisk og religiøst. Det har sikret hende en stor fanskare blandt de mere liberale dele af det amerikanske musikpublikum. Sidste år udkom der en opsamlingscd med hendes musik – Canon – og det seneste album kom i år med titlen Red Letter Year. Hvis man er til
særegen musik og bevidste tekster af høj kvalitet, så er Ani DiFranco noget at gå efter.

That’s just my cowgirl alter-ego
Riding on her bar room bull
Dripping with the sweat of irony
As the cowboys whoop and drool
Shooting glances at the mirror
To see if her scar is showing
She is truly going nowhere tonight

Lecherous old lady wanna-be
Much too young and shy
Flailing her whole life
Just thinking she can teach herself to fly
Vehement romantic
Frantic for forever right now
But forever’s going nowhere tonight

Sick of goading her self-loathing
She thinks, I think I’d better leave
‘Course whiskey makes me smarter
And I’m happy as can be
But please excuse me darlin
It’s not you
It’s me

And there’s a dusty old dust storm on mars, they say
So tonight you can’t see it too clear
Still I stood in line to look through their telescope
Looked like a distant ship light
As seen from a foggy pier
And I know that I was warned
Still it was not what I hoped
Yes I know that I was warned
Still it was not what I hoped

I think I’m done gunnin to get closer
To some imagined bliss
I gotta knuckle down
And just be ok with this
I’m gonna knuckle down
Just be ok with this
‘Course that star struck girl is already someone I miss

I swear some stuff you just see better from further away
And I think I communicate best now, the less I say
And I can’t dance if the band can’t play
And the vibe is going nowhere tonight

‘Cuz somewhere between Hollywood and its pretty happiness
And an anguish so infinite it’s anybody’s guess
Is a place where people are all teachers
And this just one long class
And that ass will get you nowhere tonight

There’s a dusty old dust storm on mars they say
So tonight you can’t see it too clear
Still I stood in line to look through their telescope
Looked like a distant ship light
As seen from a foggy pier
And I know that I was warned
Still it was not what I hoped
Yeah I know that I was warned
Still it was not what I hoped

I think I’m done gunnin to get closer
To some imagined bliss
I gotta knuckle down
Just be ok with this
Gotta knuckle down
Just be ok with this

‘Course that star struck girl
Is already someone I miss

Ani DiFranco – Manhole (Brussels ’07)